Giants road chalk against Redskins in NFC East showdown

In a rematch of one of the most exciting games of earlier this season Robert Griffin III leads his 5-6 Washington Redskins against Eli Manning and the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants on this week's edition of Monday Night Football from DC (8:30 pm ET, ESPN).

Most NFL betting outlets opened this game with New York favored by one or two points, and have since bumped the Giants to -3.

To review, the Giants started 2-2 this season, then won four games in a row. New York then lost two in a row, giving up a late lead in falling at home to Pittsburgh, and laying an egg in a 31-13 defeat at Cincinnati.

But last Sunday night, coming off their bye week, the Giants played maybe their best game of the season, dominating Green Bay 38-10.

On the other side of this matchup the Redskins, with RG III in the saddle right from the start, have bounced around almost from week to week this season. They opened with that exciting victory at New Orleans, but then lost two in a row. They then won a thriller at Tampa, lost a tough one to Atlanta, beat Minnesota but then lost three in a row.

Then, coming out of its bye week, Washington thumped Philly 31-6 and last week went to Dallas for Thanksgiving and came home with a 38-31 victory.

So the Giants, at 7-4, lead the NFC East by a game and a half over 6-6 Dallas, while the 'Skins at 5-6 lurk just two games back.

Washington also trails 7-5 Seattle by a game and a half for the second NFC Wild Card spot at the moment.

In the first meeting this season between these longtime rivals New York got a very late (and long) Manning-to-Cruz score to overcome a late Griffin TD pass, as the Giants escaped with a 27-23 victory in New Jersey.

Last year the Redskins actually - or accidentally - swept the two games from New York, as the Washington defense held the Giants to 14 and 10 points. And that was with Rex Grossman quarterbacking the 'Skins for both games.